Chapter 38 - 34: Foundation Establishment Ninth Grade, Spirit Platform Immortal Foundation

Chapter 38: Chapter 34: Foundation Establishment Ninth Grade, Spirit Platform Immortal Foundation

"The exam is over. All candidates, please leave in an orderly manner. The specific results will be announced on Friday..."

As Mu Xiaoye personally sent the last candidate out of the Secret Realm, the thirteen-day mock exam finally came to an end. Although she had claimed first place in the mock exam, Mu Xiaoye was far from happy.

Looking at the Array appearing beneath her feet, she puffed her cheeks in anger. "That damn Lu actually left on his own without telling me in advance! Did he guess that I was going to defeat everyone else, and then purposely lose to him?

"To think I even went out of my way to ambush that guy Bian Shouyi, eliminating him before he could even react. It was all for nothing! I’ll settle this score with him when I get back. Hmph."

However, when Mu Xiaoye emerged, she found that a certain someone had already slipped away, seemingly anticipating her actions. Watching Lu Chen, who had hidden in the Cultivation Chamber ahead of time, Mu Xiaoye stomped her feet in anger. But it was fine—he could run, but he couldn’t hide. She remembered clearly that Lu Chen still owed her a massive feast! Originally, she had planned to just eat casually, but now she changed her mind. She would eat, eat ruthlessly, and eat him into bankruptcy!

Two days after the mock exam, at Luocheng First High School’s Cultivation Chamber.

Lu Chen meditated and circulated his energy, improving his Cultivation while keeping part of his attention on the game on his phone.

[You have consumed 1,000 Experience Points. Basic Alchemy Skill has been upgraded to ’Proficient’...]

[Basic Alchemy Skill: Proficient 1/3,000]

[Effect: Can improve the success rate of Alchemy to a certain extent.]

[Current Experience Points: 5,000]

A month in the game was three days in reality. During this period, Lu Chen didn’t make his in-game avatar do anything unnecessary; he devoted his mind entirely to Cultivation. Relying on the decent Spiritual Power density of his in-game immortal cave, the Experience Points he could earn from a single day’s cultivation had reached around 70 points. In just one month, he had gained a full 2,100 Experience Points. It was a massive amount of experience he had never imagined possible before.

If he started spending all his Experience Points to improve his Cultivation now, even with his Spiritual Power cap raised to 30,000 points, he could still reach the Peak of Qi Cultivation Stage within an in-game year and begin preparing for Foundation Establishment. And a year in the game was nothing more than a month in reality.

Despite his current rapid rate of acquiring experience, once he actually put it to use, he would find it barely sufficient. Because Lu Chen’s current goal was no longer a simple Foundation Establishment; he was preparing to attempt a First Grade Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

How difficult was a First Grade Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment? By now, Lu Chen had a profound understanding of it. Let alone the Nine Provinces Immortal Alliance, even within the Cyan Cloud Sect, which boasted an ancestor in the Divinity Transformation Stage, the number of people in history who had completed a First Grade Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment could be counted on one hand. But without exception, those who achieved a First Grade Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment all went on to attain incredible accomplishments, unrivaled in their generation.

According to the information he had gathered so far, with his Spiritual Root encompassing all Five Elements, if he wanted to complete a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, Lu Chen estimated he would need at least 100,000 Experience Points to start, with no upper limit. This was because the core of Foundation Establishment lay in the ’Immortal Foundation.’ His Spiritual Root attribute meant he had to condense five Immortal Foundations to meet the conditions for a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

’Foundation Establishment Ninth Grade, Spirit Platform Immortal Foundation.’

The Ninth Grade referred to the Quality of Foundation Establishment. The first to third grades were Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, the fourth to sixth grades were True Foundation Establishment, and the seventh to ninth grades were Human Dao Foundation Establishment.

The Spirit Platform referred to a Cultivator’s Dantian during the Qi Cultivation Stage. The Immortal Foundation referred to the special Dantian formed after a Cultivator completed Foundation Establishment and perfectly merged it with their Spiritual Root.

It was only after learning this information that Lu Chen completely understood the true meaning of ’Foundation Establishment.’

Building the foundation meant forging the immortal into a base. The so-called Foundation Establishment was a process where a Cultivator completely refined their Spiritual Root, fused it with their Dantian, and made it an inseparable part of themselves.

The Quality of the Immortal Foundation would not only affect the quality of one’s future Core Formation Cultivation but also vastly impact a Cultivator’s Power during the Foundation Establishment Stage. Setting everything else aside, the gap in Spiritual Power alone between a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment and a Human Dao Foundation Establishment was massive enough to shock Lu Chen.

Similar to the saying regarding Spiritual Roots, which stated, "Low Grade is one, Middle Grade is two, Upper Grade is five, and Top Grade is ten," there was a similar saying among the three Foundation Establishment Levels: "Human walks at one, Earth drives at five, and Heaven ascends at ten."

Taking Lu Chen’s current Spiritual Power cap of 30,000 as an example:

If he underwent Human Dao Foundation Establishment, his Spiritual Power cap during the Foundation Establishment Stage would be 1.5 to 2 times the original amount—meaning 45,000 to 60,000 points.

If he underwent True Foundation Establishment, his Spiritual Power cap during the Foundation Establishment Stage would be 3 to 5 times the original amount—meaning 90,000 to 150,000 points.

If he underwent Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, his Spiritual Power cap during the Foundation Establishment Stage would be more than 10 times the original amount—starting at a staggering 300,000 points.

And this was merely the gap in Spiritual Power capacity between the Qi Cultivation Stage and the Foundation Establishment Stage. The biggest difference between the two actually lay in the Quality of the Spiritual Power. If a Cultivator’s Spiritual Power was a gas during the Qi Cultivation Stage, it would condense into a liquid during the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Liquid Spiritual Power was not only far purer but could also output a greater volume in the same amount of time. This was the fundamental reason why many types of Magic could only be cultivated by Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Aside from differences in Spiritual Power Cultivation and Technique power, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s physical body and Divine Soul would be subtly improved by their own Spiritual Power, far surpassing those at the Qi Cultivation Stage. Advantages in Spiritual Power capacity, Spiritual Power Quality, physical body, Divine Soul, Magic...

The Foundation Establishment Stage simply held far too many advantages over a Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator. Attempting to challenge someone across major realms was as difficult as ascending to heaven. The more one knew, the more one realized they didn’t know.

Because Lu Chen previously didn’t have much concept of the gap between the Foundation Establishment Stage and the Qi Cultivation Stage, he hadn’t felt much about defeating Ye Chenglin. He had simply assumed he won the battle because his ’Dragon Roar Heaven-Breaking Strike’ was overwhelmingly tyrannical.

But thinking back on it now, there was far too much Luck involved in his victory.

First was Ye Chenglin’s identity as a Talisman Cultivator. Similar to an Alchemy Master, a Talisman Cultivator was considered a profession within the Cultivator system that didn’t excel in Magical Combat. They needed ample preparation before a fight to unleash their full Power. However, because Ye Chenglin was trapped inside the underground tomb, he had no way to acquire Talisman Paper. Thus, he could only rely on the method of ’Drawing Talismans in the Air’ during the battle. But the Talismans drawn in this manner were only about half as powerful as genuine ones, severely limiting his original Power.

Secondly, Ye Chenglin had been severely injured and had lost an arm, reducing his Talisman-drawing speed and efficiency by half. Furthermore, before fighting Lu Chen, he had engaged in a fierce battle with his zombified fellow disciples inside the tomb. This caused further damage to his body, deteriorating his Power to less than a tenth of what it was when he was alive.

Finally, Ye Chenglin lacked a strong will to live, coupled with the broken cheat that granted Lu Chen Infinite Resurrection.

If it weren’t for all these factors, Lu Chen winning against Ye Chenglin would have been a fool’s errand.

"My victory over Fellow Daoist Ye back then was indeed more Luck than Power. It would be nearly impossible to replicate those circumstances in reality," Lu Chen thought.

"Trying to defeat a Foundation Establishment expert as a Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator is simply too far-fetched.

"I absolutely cannot treat this fluke as an inevitability, otherwise I’ll suffer a massive loss in the future.

"Besides, with ’True Cultivation,’ there really is no need for me to take unnecessary risks. I just need to prioritize stability in everything.

"Although I exited this mock exam early, based on the final results, I should still be able to earn quite a lot of Academic Credits.

"Moreover, judging from Old Chen the homeroom teacher’s attitude towards me after the exam, he must have seen my performance and completely changed his opinion of me.

"Given Old Chen’s status in the school and his own special conditions, he should be able to offer me considerable help in the future.

"All of this... stems from my performance in the mock exam.

"True stability, it turns out, doesn’t mean blindly keeping a low profile.

"Showing a certain amount of potential while not attracting too much attention—that is the true path of stability. It is called the Golden Mean... the ancestors spoke truly."

After sighing with emotion, Lu Chen turned all his energy back to the game. Today, he intended to properly test out his Proficient Level Alchemy Skill in the game to see if he could improve his efficiency in refining Qi Gathering Pills.

After all, even though the Qi Gathering Pill was only a Low Tier Elixir, its usefulness was by no means small! Especially for Lu Chen’s ’Infinite Spiritual Power’ plan, the more Elixirs he had in the game, the better. In theory, as long as his in-game avatar possessed an endless supply of Elixirs, his reality counterpart would never experience a shortage of Spiritual Power! Because when fighting in reality, he could just have his in-game avatar pop Elixirs like crazy!

At that time, it would look like he was fighting alone, but in reality... it would be two people!

Therefore, the importance of Elixirs to Lu Chen was immeasurable! This was also the fundamental reason why he was so determined to become an Alchemy Master. If he didn’t become an Alchemy Master, where else would he get so many Elixirs to consume?

And what he was preparing to refine right now was a conventional yet highly practical Elixir—the Qi Gathering Pill.

[Qi Gathering Pill (Normal)]

[Effect: Upon consumption, recovers 100 Spiritual Power within the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Multiple consumptions in a short period will diminish the Spiritual Power recovery effect.]

Under Lu Chen’s control, his in-game character soon arrived at the Alchemy Hall of Danyang Peak. Row after row of burning Pill Furnaces immediately entered his sight...